Our Vision

is for our students to become intellectually sophisticated, wholesome in character, avid readers, independent thinkers, and compassionate individuals who lead reflective and meaningful lives. 

Higher Level Passionate Learning

Harlem Village Academies aims for a higher standard: students who think critically, argue passionately, and take ownership of their learning.  We believe it is essential that students become fiercely independent and sophisticated thinkers, coherent writers, confident speakers, and avid readers.  We seek to inspire in our students a passion for inquiry, and a genuine love of learning.  We believe it is also important for students to attain proficiency in basic knowledge and skills, so we have designed a core set of skills all students must master, exams they must pass, and content they must learn.

We are persuaded that the marks of a successful student are precise thought, the ability to speak rationally, summoning evidence to support one's arguments, the willingness to examine the grounds of one's arguments, and to accede graciously, when appropriate, to stronger opinions. The mastery of these arts and habits simultaneously requires and fosters the intellectual capacity and moral virtues necessary for students to become active and thoughtful democratic citizens.

We want each student to lead a reflective life, to respect diversity, and to cultivate friendships marked by dignity and compassion.  As they pursue a demanding course of study we also want our student to develop wholesome character, and to embrace service to others.  We understand that values and noble aspirations can not be dictated but must be modeled, and will ensue from immersion in a culture of kindness.

We want our students to ask and understand hard questions about texts. We want them to develop the habits of logical and analytical thinking, to understand the underlying premise of a mathematical procedure, to train and push their minds. It isn't enough to be able to write a five-paragraph essay; they must have full command of every element of the writing process, understanding the logic behind grammatical conventions, and the appropriate usage of advanced vocabulary.

We want our students to do the kind of work that people do because they love doing it, not because they’re forced to do it.  We want our students to work so intensely that the world outside the essay or problem or experiment before them seems muffled and far away.  We want their work to leave them sweaty and exhausted and proud.  We want our students to take their work home not because somebody told them that it’s homework, but because they can’t leave it behind, because they’re not done with it yet; because the problem still needs solving, or the question must be answered.  We want them to feel what an athlete feels when entirely immersed in her game, or a serious musician perfectly lost in his music.

We want our students to learn and practice the self-discipline required to accomplish great work.  This discipline initially comes from the school's expectations, but eventually grows out of the student's sense of what the work deserves. Students begin to ask for harder books, to pursue more difficult equations.

We deeply believe that all children - regardless of socio-economic background - can and must be held to this higher standard.

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